Interdisciplinary education in child abuse and neglect

The increased need for professionals working with children and their families to understand, identify, and in some cases treat and follow up situations of child abuse and neglect has led to the offering of a structured graduate interdisciplinary course to students in various types of professional training. This initial effort represents an attempt not only to aid students in gaining insight into the dynamics of child abuse but also to encourage interdisciplinary communication among students from law, medicine, social work, education, and other fields which will hopefully continue into their professional life. Based on the experience accumulated from two offerings, a description is presented of the objectives, content, methodology, problems, and short-term evaluation of this course.